


Teatime talk

by Whilenotwriting



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 06:29:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7211675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whilenotwriting/pseuds/Whilenotwriting
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After her wedding where no one from her family attended, Dot invites Lola over for tea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teatime talk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MercurialBianca_TheHonorableMrsMcCarthy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercurialBianca_TheHonorableMrsMcCarthy/gifts).



> Happy Birthday! 
> 
> You have given several of the minor characters beautiful stories - and built new relationships for them. I cannot honor you by writing smut (I'd never do it as well as you anyway) - so here is instead two sisters trying to build bridges and become friends, perhaps for the first time.
> 
> (And thanks to Sarahtoo for looking over my English for me. Much appreciated.)

It was one week after her wedding day. A wonderful day. It had been a wonderful day. She refused to think of it any other way. It was the best day of her life, but whenever she thought back she could not unsee the missing faces. All those seats not taken in the pews. And she had told herself, _Not again_. Whatever the next occasion was, a christening, a birthday or a funeral , she would be there, and she was set on making her family be there too.

And the way things were, and how she herself had become, she'd found it easiest to reach out to her sister first. They had never been great friends. Not as children, not as young women, and now, as a newly married woman, she did not really know if she knew her sister at all. But it still felt easier than building bridges to her mother or Hugh's family. So there she was, in the Wardlow kitchen (Miss Fisher had insisted they use her house until she was back, “You'd be doing me a favor Dot!” and how could they turn down her offer when she hadn't ever offered, but asked for a favor?), preparing tea and hoping things would go better than when they last met.

The knock on the door was just a few minutes late. She didn’t very much want to open the door, and when she did, her sister seemed to hesitate before coming in.  
“Lola, please come in!”  
“Nell.”  
“ Nell? But...”  
“Well, the club had to close after ... you know. All the police business. And Lola came with that job. I thought about some other names. I tried Medora for about a week, but it was a bit too fancy for my new job. Nell is fine for a pub waitress.”  
“You're a waitress now? I'm so glad! I mean... that you have a job. And that you are safe. Because you are - right?”  
“I am, Dot. It’s hard work, and it doesn't pay as well. But it's fine. “

It wasn't an easy conversation. It had false starts and awkward pauses. It was weird, getting to know a person she'd known all her life. They had tea. Dot talked about Miss Fisher and adventure. Of cases and the fact that Miss Fisher had taken her father home in an airplane. It was easier than speaking about things that mattered. Nell spoke about the pub. Her new place that she shared with three other girls. Things she liked to do when she had a day off. And then she retrieved some skeins of purple silk from her bag. “I've brought you something.”

Dot turned it over in her hands. The yarn felt cold to her touch. Less flexible than wool, but so shiny! The color though. The color. It was beautiful! But it also drew attention. It was something Miss Fisher would wear, and Dot wouldn’t think twice about it. But herself? She wasn’t that kind of woman.  
“Oh Nell! It really is very pretty. But, you know me and colors! Maybe I should make you something of it?” That really was the best solution. Her sister definitely _was_ that kind of woman.  
“No, this is for you. And you know, even if your top layers are demure, you can always go more daring underneath?”

A pause again. Dot sat, slowly blushing. Although she did not like to be a spectacle, there was one person now she rather liked to make notice her. And she had seen a pattern the other day… It was green wool in the magazine, but purple silk would make quite an impression on Hugh, she was sure. Better not think about that now.

“ Not something you have stolen this time?”  
“No, not stolen. Given. I know this merchant... “  
“ _Know_?”  
“Oh, stop it Dorothy Williams! You of all people should be happy I do something in the Biblical manner!”  
“Nell!” Dot caught herself slapping her sister’s hand. Not hard, but still. This wasn’t how grown women conversed. “And it's Collins now.”  
“You got married? And I didn't know?” When she grew up, she’s thought nothing could hurt her sister. Looking at her now, she knew she had been wrong.  
“Sorry. I am. I just... You've never come to see me. And it was moved up. And it wasn't a big affair.”  
“Bet mum was pleased as anything, though. Her perfect daughter all dressed up in white.”  
“She wasn't there. We... We're not talking.”  
“You're not talking?”  
“There was this photo in the newspaper... “  
“ Ooooh yes! I saw that. I had a few friends who saw it and found it hilarious that it was you.”  
“Well, mum did not. And then she started saying that I was corrupted by Miss Fisher. That she had taught me better and that Miss Fisher was a painted Jezebel and I'd soon be one too. And I said I wouldn't be back until she apologized.”

They sat in silence a bit after that, both knowing their mother's strengths and weaknesses, and wondering if her stubbornness was to be counted as the first or the latter. Dot made some more tea. She was serving it when Nell spoke again.  
“She is, you know.”  
“She who? And what?”  
“Miss Fisher. She is a painted Jezebel. Of the nicest sort, clearly. But painted she is.”  
“Helen Williams, I can assure you she has no designs on the throne!”  
“Didn't you just say she was flying to England?”  
“Oh dear. I’d better telegram her. Tell her to stay away from open windows and dogs.”

They both laughed at that. Nell not quite believing what she had heard. Her sister Dot would not treat bible stories this irreverently!  
“What happened to my prudish sister?”  
“I gave her up for Lent. And it really wasn't a sacrifice at all.”

**Author's Note:**

> Jezebel is known from 1. and 2. Kings - she is married to King Ahab of Israel. She was a Phoenician princess,and actively supported the cults of Baal and Asherah, and in the Bible she is therefore the villain of the story - the opponent of the prophet Elijah. Her life ends with her being thrown out of a window, and her remains eaten by dogs.  
> The expression "a painted Jezebel" has come to mean a scheming, shameless and immoral woman, often one who uses her physical attractiveness to achieve her goals.


End file.
